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<h1 align="center"><span class="pagetitle">About Line Breaking in HTML...</span><br>
<font size=2>= <span class="sitetitle">Index DOT Html</span> by <a href="../../misc/email.htm">Brian Wilson</a> =</font></h1>
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     <td valign=top align=center><a href="#justify">Justification</a> |
     <a href="#control">Controlling Line Breaking</a></td>
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     <td valign=top align=center><big><a href="#related">Related Sites</a></big></td>
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<a name="justify"></a>
<dl>
<dt><big><b class="mainheading">Justification</b></big>
    <dd>A rule of thumb in HTML is that, for display of content in a visual
        browser, line breaking is determined by <em>THE BROWSER</em>. This power
        is given to the browser due to the intrinsic uncertainty of the size
        and nature of the display area for an HTML document. Of course, there are 
        cases when an author will occasionally wish to force a line break in a 
        document. Thankfully, HTML provides this facility. It also provides a means 
        of explicitly controlling general line breaking behavior as well. It is 
        generally safer to leave this behavior in the hands of the browser, but 
        several extensions to HTML in other areas have made the normal line breaking 
        behavior inadequate to handle many design situations.
</dl>

<a name="control"></a>
<dl>
<dt><big><b class="mainheading">Controlling Line Breaking</b></big>
<dt>[&lt;<a href="b/break.htm">br</a>&gt;, &lt;<a href="n/nobr.htm">nobr</a>&gt;,
    &lt;<a href="w/wbr.htm">wbr</a>&gt;]
    <dd>The simplest of the line breaking control mechanisms is the BR element 
        which forces a line break within document content. Several extensions to
        this element control line breaking under the special situations arising from
        using floating objects (such as images and tables.) The two remaining line
        break elements, NOBR and WBR, are used in situations where the author wants to
        disable the basic HTML behavior. NOBR turns off the normal line breaking
        behavior in a document, and the WBR element is used to explicitly break up
        content within a NOBR section.
        <br><br>

        In addition to these explicit line breaking mechanisms, there are several
        other HTML elements whose intent is not specifically to control line breaking,
        but is an added benefit. The <a href="l/listing.htm">Listing</a>,
        <a href="p/plaintext.htm">Plaintext</a>, <a href="p/pre.htm">Pre</a>, and
        <a href="x/xmp.htm">Xmp</a> elements all disable the normal HTML line breaking
        behavior to some degree. Use your best judgment as to which element best
        suits your needs.
</dl>

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<a name="related"></a>
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<dl>
<dt><big><b class="mainheading">Related Sites</b></big>
<dt><b class="subheading">Official References</b>
<dt><a href="http://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc1866.txt" class="relevant">http://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc1866.txt</a>
    <dd><span class="relevant">RFC 1866: The HTML 2.0 specification (plain text)</span>
<dt><a href="http://www.w3.org/MarkUp/html-spec/" class="relevant">http://www.w3.org/MarkUp/html-spec</a>
    <dd><span class="relevant">The web version of the HTML 2.0 (RFC 1866) specification</span>
<dt><a href="http://www.w3.org/MarkUp/Wilbur/" class="relevant">http://www.w3.org/MarkUp/Wilbur/</a>
    <dd><span class="relevant">The HTML 3.2 (Wilbur) recommendation<br>
        [Includes all HTML 2 line breaking elements]</span>
<dt><a href="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/" class="relevant">http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/</a>
    <dd><span class="relevant">The HTML 4.0 Recommendation<br>
        [Includes all 2.0, and 3.2 elements plus many new features]</span>
<dt><a href="http://wp.netscape.com/assist/net_sites/html_extensions.html" class="relevant">http://wp.netscape.com/assist/net_sites/html_extensions.html</a>
    <dd><span class="relevant">Netscape Extensions to HTML 2.0<br>
        [Explains the NOBR and WBR elements as well as the CLEAR attributes to the BR element.]</span>
<dt><a href="http://msdn.microsoft.com/workshop/author/html/reference/elements.asp" class="relevant">http://msdn.microsoft.com/workshop/author/html/reference/elements.asp</a>
    <dd><span class="relevant">Internet Explorer Tag reference<br>
        [Includes usage of all line breaking elements]</span>
</dl>

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